Future In Frost
by Myst Youkai
Summary: An alternate universe fic. This one is many years down the way, and explores a much larger and somewhat different Gensokyo. There's a good deal of original work in here, but it melds quite nicely as it's based off mythology like everything else. Obvious OC warning, Rated T for safety. It miiiiight be an M later on, depending on you people and where the story goes.
1. Chapter 1

_Winter._

_Winter is perhaps the most beautiful season._

_Summer is okay, but it's mostly just hot._

_Fall is when Shizuha reigns, painting the trees, and the sky is full of leaves._

_Spring is wonderful, everything with new life._

_But winter. Winter is beautiful. Frost spreads on the windows, countless unique snowflakes falling. It is very cold, though, and so it's usually best enjoyed through a window. Unless, of course, your best friend is a "zombie" fairy with fire to spare._

It was just the two of us, sitting outside the Moriya Shrine and admiring the snow playing with the trees and ground. I continually flapped my wings to keep them warm, whereas Duster… One of Rin's fire fairies and my best friend… Had created a nice blue fire which, for some reason, was quite warm but wasn't melting the snow.

Duster said it was because it was a spiritual fire. I made a mental note to ask Rin about that later. But right now, I was listening to Duster's story…

"And the blizzard was seemingly neverending. No-one was sure who to blame. The ice fairies? Their strongest was an idiot. The winter spirits? They are few, and the most prominent, Letty Whiterock, seemed to know little. Was Hakugyokurou messing around again? Actually, Youmu herself was helping the investigation." Duster shook her head. "Before very long, everyone was fighting everyone else. In the end it turned out it was Rinnosuke, and as can be expected, he was beaten up. That is how Gensokyo solves its problems, after all."

I laughed. "All your stories end that way. 'Everyone beat everyone else up, then they all beat up some specific people or person, everything is happy again.'"

Duster chuckled. "Well, that's how Gensokyo does things. Besides, it works. Anyway, let's go inside. Sanae said she'd make cookies, and besides, I want to pull Mima's tail again."

I sighed. "You should really not do that. She threatened to blast you last time, and I think she meant it."

Duster just laughed like always. "I'm a fairy. I'll resurrect within seconds. Besides, I'll make it worth it. I'll make it look like I'm flirting."

I had an impeccable memory for family connection. "She's my aunt in-law, you know."

Duster laughed again. "Oh, nobody cares about the family thing. Hell, some people have harems these days." Duster paused for a moment. "Well, okay, some people care about the family thing. Most care about it but accept the harem thing too, though."

I sighed. It still didn't make complete sense to me, but I knew that the answer was always "That's how Gensokyo does things."

So we went inside. Sanae, my sister in-law had, indeed, baked cookies. She had a real knack for them, so the whole family gathered…

First, there was me, Arke Komeiji. I'm a dusk tengu. I have wings, quick speed, and a slightly diluted version of a satori's abilities. I have purple hair, red eyes, and a thin, somewhat small frame. I always wear a purple, flowery kimono.

Then there's my parents, Aya Shameimaru and Satori Komeiji. Aya's a crow tengu. She has black hair, red eyes, and wears a white button-up shirt and a short black skirt. She always, _always _has a camera and a notepad on her. Satori is, well, a satori. She has pink hair, red eyes, and a blue dress shirt and pink dress skirt. I say dress because they're lacy and formal-looking. Her third eye's veins endings are decorated with little yellow hearts, and she has a hairband for the one on her head.

Then there's my sisters; Rin Kaenbyou and Utsuho Reiuji, a kasha and hell raven respectively, because Satori is like a mother to them. Rin's got red hair she keeps braided with black bows, black cat ears, red eyes, and a green dress skirt thing. She always has a strip of black cloth with silver runes wrapped around one leg, and she can turn into a cat. Utsuho has long brown hair held by a big green bow and red eyes. She has a white shirt and a green skirt, and a big red eye thing in the center of her chest. She has huge black wings, and has a glowy thing around one leg and a stone foot on the other. She also has a cannon on her right arm, but lately she learned how to take it off safely.

Aunt Koishi is also a satori, but her eye used to be closed. She has green hair and eyes, and a green skirt and yellow dress, both lacy and formal like Satori's. She's always very cheery and usually has a hat on. It's never the same hat twice in one month. She married Suwako, the oldest and apparently the strongest Moriya god. She's got blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a big hat with eyes on. She also has a purple dress with frogs on it, and poofy white sleeves.

Suwako considers and Kanako as mothers to Sanae. Kanako has purple hair, red eyes, a mirror thing around her neck and a large red dress. Although she's the official Moriya god, I get the idea she doesn't do much without trying to see what Suwako thinks. As a result, Sanae is my sister too. She's got green hair, black eyes, and a white-and-blue miko uniform. She's very eager about everything.

Finally, Kanako is married to Mima, who is apparently an evil spirit. She doesn't usually act very evil, though. She's got green hair, green eyes, and a blue hat with a sun depiction on it. She's got a long flowing blue dress, but instead of legs she has a big poofy ghost tail.

I've gotten hints from time to time that Aya might be with other people, and I think Rin and Sanae are looking around. But Satori hasn't said anything, so she must be okay with it; nothing escapes her third eye. _Nothing._ Blame all the fairies you want, she always knows who took the last cookie…

And of course everyone brought something. My parents brought grilled meat (Apparently Rin did that) and fish, and from the Moriya side, mostly stir fries and confectionary. Except for Mima, who always bring something obscure. In this case, cricket legs.

That's my family. And tomorrow, apparently there's a festival going on. That'll probably be fun, though of course Reimu will-

"THAT DOES IT! TWILIGHT SPARK!"

I can't help but laugh a little as Duster, and a chunk of the Moriya Shrine's wall, is obliterated by yet another one of Mima's pure-power attacks. And once more, Kanako mutters something and glares at Mima, who sheepishly settles down as Duster resurrects and zips over to my side.

Where was I? Ah, yes. Reimu will probably complain at Suika again, either because Suika's drunk, or because Suika invited too many people, or because Reimu's drunk and so is Suika and that always end in a fight which is good fun.


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N: This chapter took longer than I thought. Why? Because halfway through writing it, my cat decided that what I really needed to do was clean up the puke she'd just deposited on my floor. And since I have a rather short attention span when writing, I immediately forgot what I was writing about.)

_I kinda forgot to describe Duster last time, so I'll fix that now. Like most "zombie" fairies, Duster is about two feet in height with pale blue skin, pale blue hair, and a smoky blue robe that covers everything from neck down, save for the hands when they're reaching out to do something, and a pale golden halo. The most striking feature about Duster is the wings, though. Three pairs of long, half-oval fairy wings, but frayed as if burned on the curved edges; and burning with a bright blue-white spectral flame, scattering embers with every beat, which is sometimes very beautiful._

_Dinner went over fine without much incident. Everyone is more interested in tomorrow's festival._

_Night is a predictable affair in my family. Satori will insist on proper rest, Aya will make Satori chase her down because she likes staying up. Mima doesn't need as much because she's a spirit, and tries to scare the rest of us before Suwako finds her. Kanako just collapses into bed and doesn't move 'til morning. Koishi will invariably turn up with Aya, and then Rin and Utsuho will mess around before Satori gets them to go to bed. Sanae, me, and Duster are obedient._

_Usually, anyway. In this case, Duster roped us into finding Mima before she finds us, and pulling on her ghost tail again._

_We succeeded, but that's not necessarily a good thing._

_Morning's normal, though. Everyone gets up, wanders to the kitchen, and argues over who gets the tea first while someone else actually gets some. The arguers are generally Kanako, Suwako, Mima, and Aya. Sometimes Duster too, but only to pull on something… Mima's tail, Aya's wings, Suwako's hat, Kanako's onbashira…_

I stirred my tea gently with the grip end of a pocky stick. As I do, I chew dreamily on the other, chocolatey end.

I knew Duster was going to prank somebody. It might be me, it might not. I didn't care, though. I was watching the sunset and was completely relaxed.

I became considerably less relaxed when I saw who was sent to get us for the festival.

The Flower Master Of The Four Seasons! The Sleeping Terror!

Yuuka Kazami!

The Full Moon Flower! The Dream-Border Youkai!

Yuuka Kazami!

Supposedly the only youkai tough enough to stand up to Yukari and Reimu _simultaneously _and still have time to go home and do… Things to her servant, Elly Shiroi. Satori never specified.

_Yuuka freakin' Kazami!_

In case it wasn't really obvious, I panicked and ran back inside. I didn't forget my tea or my pocky, however.

Satori was the first (as always) to notice me. But while she examined my mind, Duster was the first one to actually ask "What's up, Arke?"

Apparently I get my flair from Aya. "Yuuka's here, everybody run for your lives!"

To my later amusement, Aya, Koishi, and Duster actually did run, Suwako spazzed out, Kanako hid behind Mima (who was trying to make herself invisible), and my sisters and I hid behind Satori, who sighed and tried to act like she didn't care.

Yuuka walked up, flower-umbrella gently held over one shoulder. She was wearing some sort of coat and trousers, in brown plaid and white. It made her look somewhat like a gardener, but she was meticulously clean. She had on a hat made of fresh green bamboo, with a red ribbon acting as a strip to border the brim, but the ribbon hadn't been cut, and flower gently behind her like a strip of long hair. Her green and black-flecked hair was a little messy as always, but of course clean. Her eyes, brilliant youkai-red, looked at each of us in turn before she smiled at Kanako, who made a somewhat mouselike noise.

Satori stepped forward and greeted her courteously. "Hello, Miss Kazami. You're here to get us for the festival? … Yes, I imagine she is… No… Yes… Sometimes… No, that's for her to learn when I think she's ready… I would prefer not… Very well… Yes, she is… Yes, they ran… No, I doubt it… You're welcome."

And with that, Yuuka winked at us and sedately walked back into the sunset. As usual, we all missed most of the conversation. Being an older youkai, Yuuka was quite comfortable with Satori, and so Satori didn't mind having her around, much to the dismay of the rest of us.

Satori glanced at those of us who were present. "Everyone get ready. Miss Hakurei wants us at the festival, and she's already drunk."

That was all we really needed to know. And most of us knew what to do.

Satori, Koishi, and Rin wore flowery, soft kimonos. Kanako discarded her big rope-and-sticks ensemble and donned a purple dress. Mima took what she called a ballroom dress. It looked like there was more lace than actual cloth.

Suwako took on a more mature appearance than usual, and was using a very nice paper umbrella and robe in purple and white. Sanae had chosen to take on a blue and white version of Reimu's outfit as a joke.

Duster and Utsuho didn't do anything besides groom and clean up.

For my part, I took out a long skirt and a shirt that basically looked like a shirt hung from the neck, with transparent sleeves. It was a nice gold-and-black flecking color, mostly black.

And then there was Aya. She had discarded all her black and white, and if it weren't for Satori catching her in time, would have gone out like that. As it was, she instead chose to use all fall colors. She wore a short skirt and, as always, a button-up shirt, except this one was much looser on her and had no pockets.

We thought we were all ready for the festival.

We think that every time and so far we've been wrong every time.


End file.
